Friday, February 5, 2010

In Honor of Ann Masters' Big Heart ...

The word today is "heart disease." Uh, wordS, I guess it is. Anyhow, my late friend Ann Masters' daughter, Sam, told me that if we're going to support some awareness of women and heart disease--not to mention men and heart disease, who have a longer history with it--we need to wear red today.

The Pendleton shirt I'm wearing here was one of Ann's favorites ("You're so sexy in red, Smith," she'd say, getting me ready so she could ask me to do something for her). My mother died of heart disease and my grandpa, bless his heart, died on his way to church of a heart attack. My brother Sandy lay on an operating table about two years ago while a physician held Sandy's heart in his hands. Sandy was a college athlete who exercises regularly and doesn't have a bad diet that I'm aware of. But we have those genes.

I have discovered since Sandy's heart episode that all my siblings have cholesterol and blood pressure problems (and I have them, too, in addition to the diabetes thing that came on because of my lard ass). So, we've looked into all this and settled on our individual plans, which do not include cashing in soon.

I suggest you do that, too. Heart disease just lurks there in the darkness, waiting for that stress situation or that one more little particle of cholesterol to clog your arteries before it smilingly kills you.

About Me

Dan Smith is an award-winning journalist in Roanoke, Va., and a member of the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame. He is an author, photographer, essayist, father and grandfather. Co-founder of Valley Business FRONT magazine and founder of the Roanoke Regional Writers Conference.